1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to container monitoring and anomaly detection, and more particularly to container monitoring and anomaly detection using physics-based location signatures for authentication and location verification.
2. Description of the Related Art
International trade has become an increasingly important engine for economic growth in the U.S. Thirty years ago imports and exports accounted for only 8 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). By 1999, foreign trade was almost 27 percent of GDP. Economists predict that trade will double by 2010.
Each year, more than 16 million containers arrive in the United States by ship, truck, and rail. Ninety-five percent of U.S. international cargo, by volume, is transported by ocean. More than half of these goods arrive by ocean-going cargo containers. In 2001, U.S. Customs processed more than 214,000 vessels and 5.7 million sea containers. While ports connect consumers with global products, and farmers and manufacturers with overseas markets, ports also serve as local economic engines.
Ports generate jobs and opportunities that allow businesses to flourish. Small businesses and manufacturers send their products to global market through ports. Commodities such as fruit, corn, forest products, iron ore, machinery and mobile homes move across the country and are loaded on vessels bound for other countries. Today, containerships carry about 55 percent of U.S. international maritime trade based on value, and eight percent in terms of tonnage. Containerized shipments in the U.S. doubled in the last ten years and are expected to double again every 10 to 15 years. The large economic and social dependence that the United States and other countries place on containerships, combined with the large volume and worldwide access, make these containers a natural target for acts of terrorism.
Terrorist groups have vowed to cripple the U.S. and world economy. A terrorist attack using a sea container can prove detrimental to this portion of the global trading system by bringing the worldwide movement and processing of ocean-going cargo containers to a halt. The strategic placement of an explosive device within a container that is carried into a port of high population such as New York or Los Angeles, followed by a carefully timed detonation, can have disastrous results in the loss of human lives and on the worldwide economy as shipping comes to a virtual standstill.
Hence, a proactive stance by Customs in screening sea containers can significantly contribute to the agency's overall efforts to secure the borders against dangers that might be introduced through commercial traffic. To this end, plastic labels, paper labels, and mechanical seals have been developed to assist Customs in sea container screening. Unfortunately, classic plastic labels, paper labels, and mechanical seals are easily compromised and replaced with “dummy” or “twin” seals. Moreover, this entire class of tamper-evident technologies typically requires one-by-one inspections of the seals as the containers are removed. As a result, these technologies do not provide the level of security and awareness required in today's high threat environment.
Another prior art approach has been the use of electronic locks and seals with radio frequency identification (RFID) capabilities. These devices allow the locks and seals to be “pinged” or queried by remote transmitters. When combined with additional sensors of vibration, light level, heat, and humidity, these locks can provide valuable information about the state of each container. These locks typically have battery backup, memory and time and date stamps so that all openings and closings of the lock can be recorded for later queries.
Unfortunately, these devices contain no information about the location of the container either within the shipping vessel or in terms of geo-location. Moreover, these devices do not protect the data stored within the lock/seal or the communication with the querying tool. Consequently, interception and masquerading of signals and the status of each container can be compromised.
There is a need for a non-spoofable electronic handshake between each container and the authorized querying device so that interception and eavesdropping cannot occur. Moreover, there is a need to add the ability of both the querying tool and each container to “recognize” the authenticity of the other party in a communication in a non-spoofable manner.
In view of the foregoing, there is a need for systems and method for authenticating that the contents of containers, such as those commonly used in the shipping and transportation industries, have not been tampered with since they were sealed. The method should provide an authorized monitoring system to continually communicate with and sense the status of these containers in a manner that immediately notifies a local or remote authority should a breach occur. This notification should further provide detailed geo-location and time coordinates for the container at the time of breach. In order to avoid opportunities for electronic fraud, there is also a need to include in the communication between the authorized monitoring system and each container a signature that is uniquely generated by the monitoring system and can be “recognized as authentic” by the container in real time or in a subsequent audit. Moreover, there is a need to facilitate the rapid location and identification of containers whose security has been breached. Finally, it is imperative that vessels whose contents have maintained their integrity during shipment be granted an “expedited” entry through a perimeter security system above those ships whose contents are suspect or otherwise unable to provide a high level of assurance that the contents are secure and trustworthy.